


Otherside

by Gozzer



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassination, BAMF Diego Hargreeves, Blood and Injury, Dark Diego Hargreeves, Dark Lila Pitts, Dead Ben Hargreeves, Denial, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Gen, Hurt Diego Hargreeves, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Manipulation, Manipulative Relationship, Murder, Post-Season/Series 02, Rape/Non-con Elements, Scary Diego Hargreeves, Suicidal Thoughts, Time Skips, Time Travel, Violence, new powers, the time commission
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:20:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gozzer/pseuds/Gozzer
Summary: "Welcome to The Commission, Diego Hargreeves."After Diego is left behind in the sixties Lila convinces him to work for The Commission.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Herb, Diego Hargreeves & Lila Pitts, Diego Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, The Handler & Diego Hargreeves
Comments: 22
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

The darkness of solitary confinement always made Diego tired. But maybe that was the drugs they used on him. They had been less understanding with him after all this time and used any means necessary to calm him down. He liked to fight against the nurses and guards. Being forced into something against his will had never worked out for anyone involved. This place had been screwing with him for the last eighty-five days and he was tired of it. He planned on making his escape that night. When the lights were shut off and everyone was told to go to sleep. Diego would still be in the padded room until morning when the nurses came to grab him. He'd been stuck in there enough times to know the routine. 

With the hours ticking to night finally, Diego slammed his right shoulder against the wall until it popped out of place. It hurt like a bitch, but he pushed through it. The straight jacket was slipped off and he dug out the pen he stole from the Doctor. He was still tired and his brain couldn't focus but he got the broken pen into the lock. With a lot of effort Diego got the door to unlock. For a moment he leaned on the wall trying to force his eyes to remain open before he stumbled down the hall. As he turned a corner one of the guards noticed him and brought out a baton. Diego internally groaned and prepared for a fight that didn't come. Something hit the guard and he fell to reveal Lila. Now, Diego couldn't say he hated Lila but he sure didn't like her. At first she seemed alright and he had even started to enjoy her presence, she was wild and unrestrained in a way that he liked. Then she started to get too close and more personal, asking about his family. And no one ever asked about his family. 

"We escaping?" Lila hopped up to him with a grin. Her eyes went to his limp arm and the grin got a bit more sharp. It made him uneasy. "Let's fix that shall we?" Without waiting for him to say anything she caught his arm and shoulder, and shoved. It hurt more than popping it out. He could help the pained shout that came with it. "Oh shut up, you baby, it's fine."

"What're you doing?" Diego tugged his arm away from her and to his chest. She stared at him for a moment before grinning. 

"Come on, I know a way out." A hand grabbed his and started pulling him down the hall. Diego wanted to argue and fight, but she did seem to know where she was going. Which made him suspicious but he needed out. 

Down winding halls and avoiding guards they went. Lila pulled him into a closet then pushed some things out the way of a vent. Diego narrowed his eyes at her, she knew this place too well. The vent was popped off and Lila crawled through while motioning for him to follow. He was hesitant to do so but he went through the vent as well. Through another set of long halls and dark corridors they went until Lila turned a corner and Diego heard a door open. Her hand wrapped around his again and pulled him through the open door into the dark street. Freedom washed over him and he moved out of Lila's range. As much as he didn't like her, he was grateful for her help. When he turned to tell her as much something stabbed his neck. His fingers went for the spot while he turned to look at Lila. There was that sharp grin again along with a syringe in her hand. 

"What did youuu dooo?" His voice started to slur as the world tilted around him. Whatever she had given him was mixing with the drugs still in his system. 

"I need you, Diego." Lila stepped forward to put a hand on his face that he jerked away from. She frowned and caught his hair before he could get too far. The world was still swirling around him and darkening. "You'll do great with us, I promise." Diego wanted to ask what she meant but everything was sliding out from under him and the drugs finally took over. 

When he woke up it was with a startle. His body tipped forward and his hands went out to stop something that his body thought was there. He wasn’t restrained but he was sitting in a chair. Opening his eyes let him see a dimly lit office with a desk in front of him. There was a woman behind it that he didn’t recognize but looking around let him find Lila sitting next to him. She was out of her asylum clothes in a black sweater. He looked down at himself to find the same white clothes as before and nearly sighed in relief. She hadn’t undressed him. But she had pretty much kidnapped him after helping him escape. 

“What the hell is going on?” Diego tried not to show how freaked out he was but he knew he was failing. He had never done well in hostage type situations. Lila turned to give him a smile that he glared back at. 

“We want to offer you a deal, Diego.” The woman behind the desk leaned forward to tap a cigarette out in an ashtray. Before he could decline she carried on talking. “A job of sorts, if you will. See, as a company we keep the time space continuum on track. You being in the sixties has really goofed some things. Now normally we’d just have you killed and be done with it, but we decided that with your skills you’d be better off working with us.”

“No. Put me back so I can find my family. I know I wasn’t the only one stuck there, I couldn’t have been.” Diego knew his siblings should have been in the sixties or around that time with him, it seemed unlikely for Five to separate them by too much time. If the old man couldn’t control how far back they went he would have at least done everything to keep them together. Diego was certain of that. 

“Oh, Lila, dear, you didn’t tell him?” The woman turned her eyes to where Lila was sitting. Out of habit more than anything Diego looked over at Lila too. 

“I didn’t have time.” Lila shrugged and settled back in her seat. The woman tsked and turned back to Diego; who was certain that something was going on now. He knew more than people gave him credit for, and he knew that these women were holding something back. When he opened his mouth to demand they tell him the woman spoke up. 

“You’re right about your family being in the sixties.” He knew it. “But they left for 2019 already. Almost a week ago. That’s why we had to grab you, you were the last person out of place. They left you behind.” 

“Bullshit. They wouldn’t do that.” Diego was almost positive that his siblings wouldn’t leave him behind. What reason would they have? 

“Diego, they didn’t even bother looking for you.” Lila leaned over to put a hand on his arm and he jerked away from her. It made her frown but took her hand back. “Five arrived in the sixties nearly two weeks ago and found your other siblings. You guys brought the apocalypse back with you and he wanted to stop it. They didn’t look for you. They did their thing and Five took them back to the future.” 

“Prove it. Five isn’t stupid enough to leave without me.” Or at least he shouldn’t be. If none of them should have been in the sixties then it was obvious all of them had to leave. There was no reason that Diego could come up for why Five would even think about leaving one of them behind. And if they did, why would no one else wonder or ask about him?

“Well, if you insist.” The woman got to her feet and waved for him to follow. Lila stood up while Diego did the same. He flexed his fingers and curled them into fists at his sides. With each step out of the room and down halls and stairs Diego kept track of where they were in case he had to make a break for it. When they got to a door the woman stopped walking. “Welcome to the Infinite Switchboard.” The door was pushed open to reveal several screens and switchboards lining the walls. Diego took it all in as he followed the woman inside with Lila right behind him. The woman moved some wires and plug-ins around until one of the screens changed to a different scene. “There you go, all the proof you need.”

Diego leaned closer to the screen as a video began to play. It was of a hallway full of glowing energy. People were shoved up the walls and bleeding out of their faces, and Diego knew they were dead. For a moment it was just the energy pulsating then Allison appeared to be struggling through it. When the energy got to be too much for her Luther tried and failed. Then Klaus tried and Five. The energy seemed to grow worse until someone else appeared. They were blurring and flickering like they weren’t really there. It took Diego a second to recognize that it was Ben. Seeing his brother again made his chest tightened and the want to cry appear in his eyes. He watched Ben disappear into the room where the energy was coming from and never come back out. Instead Vanya stumbled out with tears running down her face. She slid to the ground next to their siblings and cried over them even after they all woke up. They all talked for a while but there was no sound for Diego to hear. When Five had them all gather into a circle with a briefcase in his hands, something wavered in Diego’s chest. In a flash of blue all of them disappeared; leaving him behind. 

“I’m sorry, Diego.” Lila put a hand on his back and he let her. His family really did leave him in that asylum.

“Why- Why would they?” Diego couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that all of them had left him behind. They didn’t even look. He was in the same city, he hadn’t moved buildings in over two months. Why didn’t they look? 

“Because they didn’t need you.” The woman stood up from the chair she had claimed and gave him a sympathetic smile. “Didn’t see your potential to help them” 

“But you can help us, Diego. We need you,” Lila said. She rubbed his back and he didn’t pull away. “Our offer is still on the table. You can work for us, be of use to the timeline. Do some good.” Diego didn’t exactly like the idea but he wasn’t opposed. There wasn’t a whole lot he was good at and even less so that needed someone like him. Maybe he could use the job opening to find a way back to his family to figure out what went wrong. 

“Yeah, sure, but who am I working for?” He looked away from the screen to the woman and turned to see Lila. The two women shared a look that Diego couldn’t decipher. 

“Welcome to The Commission, Diego Hargreeves.”

  
  


A gentle breeze pushed the little hairs around Diego’s face back from him. He had been meaning to cut his hair for months now. Would have too really but Lila liked it long, said she enjoyed having someone else's hair to do besides her own. Most of the time he kept it pulled back, especially when out on a job. And out on a job is exactly where he was. Lila had elected to stay behind in the hotel while he took out the target. It was a simple job honestly, didn’t need both of them. He just had to take out some bratty kid that would pick up a coin that was meant for someone else. What he planned to kill the kid with was sitting in his palm waiting for him to put his powers to work; waiting to be flicked into the air and shot at the kid at a speed not probable for anyone else. 

Around him the small park was mostly empty. Diego leaned back against the fountain to watch little Jeremy’s parents lead the kid towards the swing set. Poor kid was almost six too. But Diego had killed younger people before. Snapped the necks of four year olds that stepped on the wrong flower, drowned a couple two year olds, even suffocated a baby that wasn’t supposed to be born. It was all work. That’s all it was; that’s all Lila told him. Diego blinked away the memories of the kids’ cries to watch for the right moment. The parents were off to the side arguing and not watching Jeremy as close as they should. Tiny thing too, small for his age, sickly. A bullet danced between Diego’s knuckles as he waited, watched, counted. Seconds were ticking away to the right moment. Then something moved in his peripheral. He paused in his watching to flick his gaze to the side and check out what caught his attention. It was hard for something to ruin his focus. 

There was a man walking down a cobblestone path. Tall, dark haired, pale complexion. Diego brought his gaze back to the kid and knew he couldn’t wait any longer. With a flick of his fingers the bullet was launched across the park into poor Jeremy’s forehead. A scream from his mother echoed in the park as Diego got to his feet. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and started off for the exit. The man he had spotted picked up pace and veered in his direction. Someone else moved and Diego found a short woman getting up from a bench. This was a set up of some kind. He sighed but carried on. They weren’t going to stop him, whoever they were, because no one could. Not when he could do what he could. Others have tried and failed miserably in the past. Very bloody most times. 

“Diego.” The sound of his name made him glance to the side to find a teenager walking next to him. Young teen, about sixteen if he had to guess, blue eyes, brown hair, square jaw line. Familiar but overly so. Not like that man had been or the woman. “You have to come with us.”

“Piss off, kid.” Lila was waiting for him. Diego carried on for the entrance of the park without another look around. Someone else moved near the archway. Male, tall, broad shoulders, massive actually. A woman stepped away from a tree. Tall but overly so, dark complexion, short hair. They were all familiar to him; how could they not be? But no matter how much he knew them, he wasn't willing to stick around. Without a look at the man blocking the entrance, Diego veered off the path to head for the hedge lining the street. 

“I know what you’ve been doing. The Commission isn’t a good place, Diego, you have to believe me on that.” The kid popped up in front of him. Literally from thin air. It made Diego frown, he knew that technique. How could he not? It was from the same person that had ditched him in a nuthouse three years ago. Left him to rot. “Come home with us, please.”

“Fuck off.” Diego moved around the teenager to carry on. He was doing just fine with Lila and The Handler and The Commission. The kid jumped again to stand in front of him. His other siblings - because that’s who they were - were closing in on him. “I don’t want to hurt you, kid.” 

“Kid? I’m older than you, idiot.” Another flash of blue and a hand was wrapped around his left arm. Diego sighed and flicked out a finger. The kid’s movement was altered just enough for him to miss a step and stumble, letting Diego go. It made the kid splutter something that he ignored. “What the hell was that?” Still Diego carried on walking. The hedge was close now, the street and people just beyond. He had gotten good at blending in. “Will you stop? We’re trying to help you.”

“Wait up, Dee!” A familiar voice and hand coming to land on his shoulder made him finally stop. His hands went out and froze every single movement that his siblings were going through. See, he no longer was stuck manipulating only things he threw. Any object, or person, in motion he could alter and change and bend to his will. Their trajectory was his to use however he saw fit. Normally it was used to kill whoever he needed to, but now he just held his siblings frozen. He turned around to take them all in and their scared expressions. They were at his mercy. 

“You come after me again and you’ll be dead.” Diego looked at each of them before turning on his heel to walk away. Only once he was out of the park and mingled within the city then did he release his siblings; but not before tugging them all down to the ground. Hopefully they would take the hint and leave him alone. If not, then well, they weren’t going to see their next sunrise.

When Diego got back to the hotel Lila was still there to greet him. Her hands pulled off his jacket and shirt before dragging him towards the bed. He wasn’t really feeling sex but he wasn’t going to deny her. She got restless on missions. Kisses and bite marks were placed on his skin while he unbuttoned the shirt she wore. Things like this usually occurred after missions but Diego never really wanted to do it. He was tired and worn out, more emotionally than physically this time. But he couldn’t remember the last time he had said no to Lila. He never said no to her. ‘No’ had never gotten him anywhere in The Commission. Whether by saying it or receiving it. It was just a word that had been stripped from his vocabulary in the early months of work. Many words had been crossed out and burned down and ripped away from him. They didn’t fit in with his type of work. Things like ‘mercy’ and ‘please’ and ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘innocent’. Lila had never liked when he said them anyway, so he had stopped. It was like ‘No’, he no longer had a use for words like that. Not when Lila didn’t expect anything like that from him.

Three hours after the mission and encounter with his siblings, Diego was showered and back home. It was a place he shared with Lila on The Commission's dime. Nice place too. Suburbs, porch, a lawn, enough space and more. They didn’t use it all that much. In between missions only. Most of that time was spent sleeping anyway, so it’s not like they needed the space. But still, Diego didn’t mind it. He quite enjoyed the bed where he could sleep for fourteen hours and not be disturbed by anyone. Where Lila would curl around him and play with his hair as they were lying there in the dark. Where ‘No’ had been shredded and forced out of him. Where hands would wander and kisses would linger. Where bruises were born and scars were made. Where Diego could sleep and not face the world for nearly full days at a time. 

The next time Diego came into the office it was to visit Herb and get his next assignment from the source. He didn’t like getting the tubes while out, it got in the way of his work, was a distraction. Lila had wandered off to visit her mother while Diego went for the offices. Management employees avoided his eyes and scooted out of his way when they noticed him coming down the hall. Word was that he was the most dangerous field agent in play. Rumors spread that he could kill someone with a mere thought. Whispers of him being a legend and surpassing Five. That he was becoming a monster. The Handler’s beast. It never failed to make Lila laugh when someone brought it up. Diego didn’t find it as funny. In fact, he didn’t find much of anything that Lila did funny. He loved her anyway but they were quite different. 

“Hey, Herbie.” Diego leaned in the doorway of the office. All of the workers inside glanced up before looking back down just as fast. All except for Herb. He was the only one in the building that wasn’t afraid of him.

“Come for your next job?” A piece of paper was pulled out of the typewriter and rolled up. Diego stepped into the room to take it from the man. He let it unravel to read the imprinted words. They made him frown and looked down at Herb. Who was flipping through his next file without a care. 

“The same year? You know I don’t like going back to the same time so close together.” It always felt too close for comfort. Like someone could recognize him. 

“I know, but The Handler wanted you to take it specifically.” Herb gave him an apologetic frown. Diego sighed then stuffed the paper into his back pocket for later. He would be leaving the second he stepped out of the office building. Staying idle hadn’t ever worked for him.

“Alright, fine. I’ll see you later, Herb, stay outta trouble.” He patted the man’s shoulder before leaving the room. This mission was going to go wrong; he could already feel it. 

Lila hooked her arm with his and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek. She wasn’t joining him on this mission. It was a solo one on specific orders from The Handler. Something fishy was going on but Diego had no reason other than his own gut feeling to discredit any of them. It left him uneasy. With another kiss Lila pulled back from him. A grin was on her lips that Diego tried to give back. It didn’t work but Lila only shook her head before pushing him towards the doors. He had a job to do. A very bland one and missing details. Yet still he used the briefcase to enter the same year but different city. 

Where he stuffed the briefcase under the bed in the hotel room and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper. There was a box sitting on the bed with more details like usual. Diego skimmed the name again and location before flipping open the lid on the box. Inside were the usual items. Guns and ammo that he hardly used along with a nice set of knives he always kept on his person and the file containing the rest of the information he needed. Pulling that out first he flipped through the pages to find not much more than the note. Stephanie Runner, an unmarried woman that was going to be eating at a cafe at seven in the evening. She apparently gets in the way of a businessman on her way to work that delayed him long enough to have him missing an important meeting for a big company deal. Normal stuff really. Diego still couldn’t shake the bad feeling he got. Something was going to go wrong tonight, he could feel it. But he couldn’t not complete the job.

At six-thirty Diego was seated within the cafe sipping on a tea - never coffee, made him jittery - pretending to read a book. Runner was coming through the door and up to the counter. A single caramel infused latte was ordered before she went to sit down at the table across from Diego. He kept an eye on her and the other people in the building. There was a young couple near the door and a single older man on the other side of the room typing on a laptop. Diego toyed with the coffee makers at the counter. When the woman went up to get her order he was going to stop the dispensers and cause them to back up before exploding next to her. The shrapnel should kill her and if it doesn’t then he has a spare bullet in his pocket. It was a simple enough scenario. Up from her seat she got when the barista called her name, the coffee stopped, machines overheated, she was at the counter, there was a whine, the machines exploded. Diego watched as a piece of glass was lodged in Runner’s throat while other bits of shrapnel killed the barista. A casualty, but oh well. As the chaos started he got up and slipped out the front door. 

Where something slammed into the back of his head.


	2. Chapter 2

The air around him was too cold. Far colder than he liked or was used to. Diego never much enjoyed the cold. Reminded him of the day Ben died and the funeral. He did his best to ignore it as he took in his situation. Strapped to a chair, metal, chained hands to a table in front of him, immobile, missing his knives and single bullet, smart. Whoever had him knew what they were doing. Knew information they shouldn’t. He was going to kill them before they could spill it to anyone else. Then he was going to confront The Handler about this mission. He knew something had been going on. 

“We know you’re awake, Diego.” Ah, his siblings. That made sense in a way, but how did they know where he was? Was there a mole in The Commission? Diego opened his eyes to glare at the kid standing in front of the table. Hands were stuffed in pockets, nonchalant, unafraid of him, at ease. Klaus was sitting on the edge of the table. Tense, frowning, upset. Vanya sat at the other end of the table. Nervous, tapping her fingers, not quite meeting his eyes, possibly afraid. Luther stood at the back of the room. Arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed, watching him, confused for the most part, puzzled. Allison leaned against the wall next to him. Frowning, shifting on her feet, subtly leaning away from him, not scared, apprehensive. 

“Who sold me out?” It could’ve been any one of those terrified office workers. They cowered away from him like he was going to kill them at any moment. Maybe it was another field worker. Tired of hearing about his missions and the legendary ‘Kraken’. No one really said his name anymore. Only Herb, Lila, and The Handler. He scared everyone else, his name was too nice for his image apparently. 

“No one.” The kid untucked his hands and moved to sit in the chair directly across from Diego. Something glinted in the light. There was a knife on the kid, small, familiar, useful, his. His fingers twitched in the chains and the metal rattled. It caused the kid to pull out the knife and set it on the table. Out of reach, center, hands are bound, not enough space for use. He let the metal fall still. 

“Bullshit. I knew something was wrong with this mission.” He never went to the same year back to back. It wasn’t safe. Someone could have seen him, had seen him. “What traitor do I have to kill now?”

“You aren’t killing anyone,” Luther said. Diego ignored him. Not in charge, no information, useless. 

“I’ll rip it out of you if I have to.” He did not stand for traitors. There had been exactly two since he joined The Commission and examples had been made of them. Bloody and brutal examples. “Don’t make me start with the youngest.” Vanya tensed along with the others in the room. Scared, wary, nervous, on edge, ready. Diego kept his glare on the kid in front of him; who stared back. 

“Herb. He’s been telling us where you’re going to be.” Eye contact, clear voice, no twitches, not lying. Diego shut down his breathing to stop from giving away that he was upset. Herb. The only one of Management Diego liked, the only one that liked him back. “He wanted you safe and out of The Commission’s hands.” He was going to kill him. He had to. He couldn’t say no. The Handler would ask, Lila would order. Herb had betrayed them. Betrayed him to the family that abandoned him. Got him captured. Had been his only friend. The only one that could make him laugh when those forbidden words tried to come back. He had to do it. ‘No’ didn’t exist. 

“You won’t hear from him again.” Nobody would. Herb was going to be six feet under. Diego was going to have to put him there. To protect himself and The Commission. 

“We can’t let you do that.” The kid placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. “We want you out of The Commission, back with us. Not out killing innocent people.” Diego finally let himself breathe again. 

“Are we not one and the same, kid? They used to talk about you.” The room grew tense again. Waiting. The kid didn’t move or change expressions. Diego leaned forward. “Bloody Five, legendary among field workers. You took pride in that. How does it feel, knowing that someone else stole your crown? That someone else’s name is whispered and feared? That you’ve become an empty story?” 

“What do they call you?” The kid still watched him but there was something different in his eye. He was almost worried. But for who was the question. Diego leaned back in the chair and glanced around the room. He had them concerned and nervous again. 

“Kraken.” Body count through the roof and trailing blood wherever he went. More dangerous than The Handler. A pet on a leash ready to be released on whoever was in the way. A monster born out abandonment and trauma. A masterpiece in the eyes of The Commission. 

“Hm, imaginative lot they’ve become. I don’t see it.” Diego didn’t either. His powers had nothing to do with sea monsters or water. “Still, you can’t be happy doing this. Killing all these people? What happened to the vigilante justice?” The kid seemed to be staring through him instead of at him. Like he was trying to find something that had long since been carved out of him. 

“What happened to our brother?” Klaus asked, setting a hand close to Diego’s chained ones. 

“He was left in the sixties.” Diego could see the moment they understood. The shock, widening eyes, opened and closed mouths, sorrow, tears gathering, frowns, horror, grief, apologies. 

“Where were you?” Allison stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. Gentle, caring, motherly. She must have been reunited with her daughter. Diego wanted to flinch away, jerk out of her grip, snarl at her, anything, but ‘No’ didn’t exist in his body anymore. He settled for glaring at the kid in front of him. The one that hadn’t bothered to look or check or wait. 

“A nuthouse, an asylum. White walls, nurses, drugs, solitary confinement. All the good stuff.” Most of those in the room flinched away from his words. From the truth he was telling. That they had left him in hell without bothering to look for him. 

“We didn’t know you were there, Diego. There had been no sign of you in the sixties unlike the others.” The kid leaned forward to place his hands just in front of Diego’s. 

“Bullshit.” He curled his fingers the best he could and the knife on the table rattled. “I got arrested, my mugshot was taken, page six of the paper. September 1963. I was the fourth one to arrive. But not the only one left behind.” His gaze shifted to where Vanya was rubbing her hands on the table. “How are Harlan and Sissy, Vanya?” Her gaze snapped up to meet his. Anger, sadness, guilt, white eyes, understanding. 

“What did you do to them?” There was a glow gathering in her chest. 

“Me personally? Nothing. But I got to watch the show.” He leaned closer to her. “You did more than save his life. Shared some of your power, made him into a bomb like yourself. He freaked out, killed both parents, blew up the farm along with himself. Real mess.” Vanya backed down with a broken sob. Diego turned his attention on Allison. “And poor Raymond. We didn’t touch him either, don’t worry. But two months after you left? He got caught up with the wrong side of the law. Beat to death in the street in front of that organization of his.” His sister brought a hand up to her mouth with her silent cries. He found Klaus. “That cult of yours? It didn’t sit well with a few of the people in Dallas. They locked them inside that mansion and burned it down. All of those people you stole from their lives-”

“Enough, Diego. You’ve made your point.” Luther stepped forward to slam a fist down on the table. Diego leaned back in the chair and stared up at him; unbothered. It’s what happened. He had watched it after Herb pulled them all up. At first he just wanted to see if he could bring his siblings good news when he found them again. But things had gotten so twisted from then to now. 

“Luther, get them out. I want a minute with Diego alone.” The kid barely glanced up at Luther before continuing to watch Diego. His siblings weren’t hard to usher out of the room. They were emotional and crying and easily steered for the metal door. Then it was just Diego and the kid. “They did something to you. You’ve lost your mind, Diego.” The kid leaned forward again and this time put his hands over Diego’s. He wanted to move away, to jerk, pull back. He stayed still and dealt with the contact. “Let us help you, please. We just want our brother back.” When he didn’t answer the kid let go of his hands and leaned back. “What happened to you? What did The Handler do?” 

“Nothing.” 

_ Snow covered the ground and each step Diego took left prints in it. He hated the cold. Lila chattered on next to him and he wanted her to shut up; she had gotten so annoying. This wasn’t his first mission but it was his third or fourth. The last few had been simple enough, he didn’t like the thought or act of killing people. It wasn’t something he was comfortable with even if it was the job. People needed to die to keep the timeline intact. The Handler had been very clear on that, some people needed to be killed. But still, Diego didn’t like it.  _

_ They were getting close to the target. It was well into the night and all the lights in the house were turned off. The target was on the first floor thankfully. Lila pointed out the bedroom window and Diego took out a knife to pry it open. He slid it up and stopped at the inside. It was a kid's room. Colorful blocks in one corner, stuffed animals in another. A bed with paw print blankets and a child sleeping. Diego turned on Lila. He wasn’t killing a child. It didn’t matter what they would do to the timeline, he was not crossing that line. Lila frowned at him and pushed him towards the window, saying they had to do this. That was the job, he had to kill the kid. When he refused again Lila lifted up a gun and pointed it at him. If he was to be killed for not murdering a child then so be it. But then she turned it on the child. Before he could stop her the trigger was pulled. Blood splashed across the bed with the bang. A couple drops landed on Diego’s cheek.  _

_ “That’s the job, Diego. It’s one person or all of them, get your head out of your ass next time.” She put the gun away and grabbed the briefcase she had set down. Diego stared down at the poor child that she just murdered. Blood soaked the blue sheets and bits of shirt were stuck in the wound. She had shot the kid in the center of their chest. He could see the splattering of wounds from the shotgun shell, the ripped skin, the blood leaking out from the last desperate heart beat. It made him sick. Lila’s hand caught his wrist just as he turned to puke into the snow. He didn’t know if he could do this job.  _

Diego glared at the kid in front of him. Most of the jobs he was given were to kill children. It had stopped bothering him long ago. They needed to die, that’s how things worked, that’s the job. He was going to kill this kid too. 

“Diego, we both know you’re lying.” The kid tapped a hand on the table but Diego ignored it. It wasn’t a nervous habit, the kid wanted to distract him. “You wouldn’t kill innocent people, you have too big a superhero complex for that. Saving people, that’s what you do.”

“Is it?” He had stopped wondering that long ago. A job was a job, whether it was to kill someone or not. Saving people, killing them, it’s the same thing. Sometimes you have to kill to save. “How about we switch this up? I’ve got some business to settle.” The Handler had a lot to answer for, and Herb had a bullet with his name on it. Herb might have been selling him out but The Handler had sent him on this mission specifically. She knew about his siblings. 

“We’re not letting you go.” Oh, he didn’t care if they let him go. He was getting out. The Handler needed something out of this meeting, she wouldn’t have sent him in the mission without expecting to gain something. He could take a wild guess and say she wanted him to kill his siblings. It was a topic they had discussed in the past. Before Diego threatened to kill her if she even thought about putting him near his family. She must have forgotten. There was going to be a lot of blood spilled after he got out the chains. “We want to help you.” A familiar sound from behind him and the stifling feeling of time being stopped.

“He has enough help.” Lila. Her hands came to his shoulders but he continued to glare at the kid. He wasn’t happy with her either. It wasn’t farfetched to guess that she probably knew about this mission as well. 

“You’re looking good, Five. Really growing up again, huh?” The Handler stepped forward and Diego could see her in the periphery of his vision. Dressed in the normalish style he was accustomed to seeing her in. His hands clenched as much as they could and the knife on the table rattled. “Now, now, Diego.” She looked down at him but he ignored her. It made her sigh. 

“What’d you do to him?” The kid got to his feet. Defensive, tense, hands out, ready for a fight. 

“What?” The Handler laughed and one of her hands replaced Lila’s. “We didn’t do anything to him. He joined us on his own. If anything it was you and those siblings that did this.” Diego wanted to move away from her, get out of her grip. He never much liked when she touched him. 

“Come on, Diego, let’s get you out of those.” Lila took her other hand off his shoulder and moved for the chains. The lock was under the table. Diego finally looked away from the kid to point out to Lila where the trouble was. She hummed and crouched down. One of her hands slipped over his thigh to hold herself steady. He didn’t quite like when anyone touched him really. But Lila was okay, she was always okay. 

“You wiped out any information about him in the sixties.” The kid took a step closer and Diego went to stop him. There was a ripple of his power but nothing else happened. He frowned but didn’t show how uneasy that made him. Was it the room they were in? Was it just him? Did they do something to his powers? When Lila got the chain undone Diego unwound his hands and popped his knuckles. 

“That’s a terrible habit.” The Handler looked down on him. She hated when he popped his knuckles or any other part of him. Made her disgusted. Diego made quick work of the cuffs holding his ankles to the chair before getting to his feet. The knife on the table was pulled to his hand. It made the kid tense but Lila and The Handler did as well. Oh, he was right then. They definitely had something to do with this meeting. Herb was a good worker, smart to a point, but Diego knew the jobs had nothing to do with him. He figured out who needed to be killed, he didn’t pick the killer. 

“Traitors end up dead.” Diego flipped the knife over his fingers and turned to The Handler. The kid could be taken care of later. “Was that not the lesson you taught me?” Lila went to put a hand on his arm but for the first time he pulled back. He was going to get answers then he was going to kill them. It didn’t matter that he loved Lila, traitors were killed. If they sold him out to his family then they weren’t leaving this room alive. No one was. “You sent me on this mission, what did you hope to gain from this?”

“What’re you on about, Diego?” Lila stepped closer and grabbed his wrist. He wanted to pull away but he had done that once already. Her hand was warm and bruising. It was usual when he got like this. Familiar.

“He thinks we sent him on this mission to get in contact with his siblings. Which is outrageous, darling.” His knife was flicked into the air. He wanted the truth or he was going to gut her. The Handler sighed and held her hands up. “We didn’t know about your siblings, Diego. Lila noticed you were missing and we followed your tracker, that’s all. Herb was the one to sell you out.” He knew that already, Herb had betrayed him. His only friend had screwed him over. He didn’t want to kill Herb, but he couldn’t let him live. 

“Put down the knife, Diego.” The metal was warm in his hand. Familiar, heavy, home, his. He wasn’t going to let it go any time soon. It was his, he recognized it more than anything else. Lila’s hand on his wrist tightened and her nails started to dig into his skin. “Baby, you’re not going to hurt us, so just put it down.” Someone was watching him. Diego clenched his hand around the handle before throwing it out. The blade curved through the air to seek out where the kid was standing behind him. There was a shuffling noise then the sound of the blade sticking into the wall, pinning the kid back. 

“Diego, you don’t have to listen to them. You can come back to the Academy with us.” Diego turned around as Lila let go of his wrist. The kid looked unruffled to be at his mercy stuck to the wall like a fly. 

“Leave me alone, kid. I’ll kill you the next time I see you.” A hand landed on his shoulder and another took his hand. The Handler said some parting word to the kid before the briefcase was activated. Diego still didn’t quite believe what they had told him but he couldn’t go against them again. There was probably already something set in motion for the defiance he showed; he thought he was over that. He’s too suspicious for his own good, that’s what Lila always told him.

The Commission building was as busy as ever when Diego stepped through the doors. Workers scurrying around and field agents getting orders. It was normal. Diego moved through them for the one place he didn’t want to go. A blade danced between his hands. It made everyone nervous as he walked past them. He wasn’t there for any of them. The one person he always came to visit, he always went to the same person. He didn’t want to do it. Corridors and halls, and closer he got to his target. Maybe others he walked by knew what he was there to do, he never came in armed, and that was why they literally ran from him. It didn’t matter, they were useless to him. Closer, the doorway was there. The sounds of typewriters and papers being moved filtered out of the room and Diego stopped to listen for a moment. It was the sound of Management, it’s what he associated with their type of work. Desk jobs, not built for the harder stuff. None of them were going to like what was going to happen. 

Stepping through the door made all noise stop for a moment before it continued; it was normal. Diego went for the desk at the front of the room where Herb sat. Having not been noticed just yet, Diego hung back to watch him work for the last time. Fingers moved to type something while he looked at a file next to him. A page was turned then he went back to typing. It was his job, his work. Diego moved around the desk to lean on the corner. Herb looked up and gave him a grin, thinking he was there for a visit. Then the knife caught the light and the smile fell. It was work, his job, he had to. He didn’t want to. 

“Why?” The knife was stilled but left out. Herb swallowed and shifted to look around the room. When nothing else moved his eyes came back for Diego. 

“I wanted to help you. You’re not happy here, this isn't what you want to do.” Herb didn’t relax. “They’re manipulating you, Diego. The whole Commission even. The Handler was demoted when she came back then the board was murdered. She’s not supposed to be in charge.” 

“Who is?” Fingers curled over the handle. He was tense. He didn’t want to do this. He was stalling. 

“We don’t know, but not her. She wants everything to go her way, she’s using you to do that. Her and Lila are using you for their own gains.” It was quiet in the room again. Everyone was listening, wishing to know what was happening. 

“How did you get in contact with my siblings?” The tension was leaving Herb, he was willing to give over the information. That was why he had to go. He gave things up too easily. 

“The tubes. I’ve got a deal worked out. You can talk to them, get back home. We’ll cover for you, I promise.” Herb put his hands flat on the table and went to stand. He wanted to help, that was all. That’s where he was going. 

Diego got to his feet. His hand tightened around the knife. Herb tensed again. It was completely silent, no one moved or breathed. This couldn’t stand, they wouldn’t let him walk away from this. It didn’t matter how much he didn’t want to do it, how much he tried to twist the story around, how much he had argued. Those words had been brought out. The ‘please’ and ‘don’t make me’ and ‘I can’t’ and ‘I don’t want to’ and ‘use someone else’. Those words had been forced down and shoved away and ripped out and burned from him again. He had to do this. The knife was heavy in his hand. The blade sharp and ready to use. Not breathing, Diego swung his arm out to catch Herb in the throat. In a quick pull he cut through the resistance of muscle, sinew, tissue, arteries, vocal chords, everything. Blood spurted out with the force. It hit Diego in the face and his arms and his chest and his hand. It splattered to the ground and the desk and part of the wall. It dripped to the floor like Herb’s body fell. The warmth coated Diego. His hand was slick with it and he almost dropped the knife. He was covered. 

Ignoring the screams, Diego turned away from the scene. The blood soaked through his shirt and slid down his face. Without a glance back he left the office. His job was done.


End file.
